Sunday, July 5, 2009

(Birthday and Holiday) Weekend Recap! :)

This is long. Sorry about that.

First things first, thanks so much for all the wonderful bday wishes-on the blog, on fbook, text, etc! I'm lucky to have amazing friends who made my birthday week/weekend very special. :)

Okay, Thursday, we had a little happy hr at Oscars. It was really impromtu and casual for whoever could make it at the time, so if you couldn't or didn't hear about it, no worries. I didn't want anything huge or super planned b/c it would have stressed me out. lol!

Eric brought Kupcakz!
Dont ask. haha!
Eric, me, Sarah :)
Lee, Ashley, Megan, Kelli

I was really flattered that everyone came-esp these two hot beasts. Both Jenny bug and Sarah have adorablfabulous (new word) baby boys at home waiting on them so it meant a lot that they came and played. :)
Marla, Kristy, Sara, me, Beth
Sarah and Jenny bug in deep discussion. ;)
Sara, Megan, me, Sarah.
Went home very happy from a low key night with some friends!! Friday (my actual bday), chillaxed and ran errands before bday dinner with Eric!

Opened my gift before dinner at his place-HE GOT ME THE BAG I WANTED!!! You remember me mentioning it here? Well, since that time, I couldn't decide whether to get it or not.. When I'd finally decided, they'd stopped.making.it. OMG! Who stops making a pink coral handbag in the spring?! Lordy. I looked at the Plaza, Vegas, Tulsa...and any other work travel locations...and nada. Someone (my awesome boyfriend) has mad skills apparently. :) I lurve it! *I just clapped excitedly all alone. wow*
We ate at Ciao..which I didn't know had a jazz night! Eric kept saying "let's go to the room next door and listen for a minute..." after dinner. I was like "Okay.. whatev..." We listened and I'd been texting Audra who was at the riverwalk. I set up that we'd just come meet them for some quick gelato. We had to leave Ciao to meet them b/c it was getting late (I'm a dumba** and you'll see why in 5...4...3..2...) and I saw Eric talking to the singer as though they were old friends. Apparently they were. He'd talked to her the day before to ask her to sing a song for me and here I had us leaving before she could. Good Gawd, Jackie. *shaking head at self* haha... Anyway, the gesture was super sweet, though! :) (And you should totally do jazz night at Ciao...it's in the attached room so you don't have to order food since it's not in the restaurant part...I want to go back! ) :)

Met Audra and Mike at the riverwalk....
We heart gelato.
The actual bday was chilltastic-just how I wanted. :) Perfect. :) (you're noticing lotsa smiley faces. I'm in a good mood..haha).

Got up and got to running errands for the bbq that day (we're on the 4th now). Eric opted to take some beer leftover from tailgates. One question.. when does Corona expire? Hmm? Yeah, we didnt know either. Sooo.. we poured one bottled in Dec with one bottled very recently and had our own mini taste test. *see two beer glasses and Eric examining bottling dates* Things that make me laugh: smelling and sipping beer at 10am. Gawd.
Ran out to Eric's parents' house to get the grill and some stuff. In case I havent told you before, their dog, Sophie, is awesomesauce. She gets the groceries, people! She gets her toys and puts them back on command, chases her tail on command... that's not even half of it! I'm very impressed. She also throws away trash. See below.
Grillmaster. We were at a friend's apt just off riverside.
This was Eric's "there was a firework explosion" face.
In case you didn't hear on the news, our fireworks display turned into a fire. On the bridge. Thankfully no one was hurt, but the 30-45 min of fireworks turned into like 8-10 min-max. They didn't wanna risk shooting off the other two trailers full. *sigh* (See smoke in low right as it happened)
Sunday, Mike and Sydney (far left in black) were in town driving through on the way from visiting her fam to visit his fam!!! I miss them so much! Along with Andrew (green shirt, his wife Lara is in white), we all went to law school together and were friends from the very first part of our 1L year all the way through. One of my fav Sydney memories is studying over candlelight at the Waterford apts b/c we'd had a final that day and had another the next day. No time during finals for lightning causing power outages, that's for sure. On the list of people who kept me grounded, sane, and laughing in law school, Syd is definitely at the top. They moved to Minnesota after law school-too far away. :( I'm crossing my fingers for their relocation back to the midwest.
Finally, Eric's family got me a new little Canon!! How freaking sweet is that?! I about died. I'm horrible with surprises b/c I get this awkward weirdo face. I got the face. But I absolutely love the camera and can't wait to play around more with it! It's no secret my old one looks a little battered and bruised. And the lens makes a clicking sound when it goes in and out. It's been loved. A lot.

I played a little today. Gracie wasn't being super cooperative but you can still tell a nice difference in quality of photo. :)

Here's Gracie with my old camera on "auto"
...and with the new one -a big difference, right?!
It was prolly one of the best bday celebrations I've had-starting with dinner with Blaze last week, happy hour with some friends, relaxed time with Eric, 4th of July bbq-ing... Just a great time all around to ring in 28. :) Major kudos to Eric....from kupcakz on, he went out of his way to make sure I had a great weekend and b/c of it, I'm still smiling at midnight when I should be sleeping...haha... Anyway, it just feels nice.

Oh and if you're wondering, my mamma is outta town visiting our fam in VA. I couldn't go b/c it was planned after the St. Lucia trip and therefore vacay time is semi limited for a bit... And I may have asked for a vacuum. How do you know you're growing up? When you want a nicer vacuum for your bday. Wow. haha!

Hope you had a great weekend! So many of you have adorable babies experiencing America's bday for the first (or second-xoxo Nate) time! I'm not sure I'd heart exploding things as a baby, but in my fairy tale land, babies love fireworks. haha... :)

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

St. Lucia Day Six - Part Deux

Okay, let's see...where did I leave you last? We arrived at our villa! We made jokes about the number...til we saw it. Yeah.  I feel so lucky about this villa. We really had an amazing trip and ending it with such an outstanding upgrade made things even better, which I didn't think was possible. :) 
Once we did an crazy excited run through exclaiming "Look at this! No way!" we started exploring in a little more detail... 

These were doors in front of our bed....
And opened up to this....:)
and this... 
Heading back in, here's the main room! Bathroom to back left...
The bathroom may have had a clawfoot tub.. Not like I noticed...or played in it...or anything. Whatever. ;) And I've fully decided I want a chandelier in my bathroom. Yeah. 
After my bathtub modeling, I heard Eric exclaim  "Outdoor shower!" Within seconds, it became part of the photoshoot.. haha..
So really we could take our pick between the outdoor one...or the indoor one with SIX SHOWER HEADS.  (wowowowow)
Okay, I wanted a sarong. BAD. I finally found one and then forgot to wear it half the week! Lol! So of course, I was like "I need a picture in my sarong!!!!" Wow. I need help. Anyway, we (Eric) figured out how to set the timer and have it take not just one...but multiple pics in a row..thereby enabling us to pose hilariously. This totally captures how excited we were and I love it!!
We can't leave the plunge pool out of the photoshoot. Duh. 


This whole thing is taking place while we're "getting ready to go to the beach." haha... So, once Eric grabbed the knife that may have intimidated the shark, I was like "omg! let's re-enact!!" After a few "no.. I didnt get it.. Jump again.. nope.. do it again..." we got this! Hello, Jackie and Eric date b/c they're easily entertained by each other. hahaha! (and his shark fighting skills are superior).
Finally! We went to the beach! Where those boats are is where Mr. Sharky was. If you look in the distance, you can see little heads in the background snorkeling. Yup. That's.where.we.were. We escaped death, people. 
Conversation:
Me: Hi, would you take our photo and try to get the...the...
Guy: That great big mountain? Yeah,  I got it. 
We both laughed. Guess that's kinda a given backdrop I suppose... *shrug*
I am so.freaking.brave. This is me very proud of myself post snorkeling after seeing the shark the day before. I look as ridiculous as I felt I looked. Whatever. 
Then...I was kinda over it...lol! I think Eric seriously wanted to see a shark. He kept saying "Let's swim across to the swim beach!" (which would have meant FROM the snorkeling area, ACROSS the murky waters and into the swim beach). 
*I just sighed deeply* Ah, to be back there....
Eric vs. The Piton. 
Headed back up and got ready for our last dinner. Took a few photos in the process. This one makes me smile. :)

White men CAN jump. Thanks. 
Since the rooms were up the mountains, we had to take a shuttle down.. which arrived about 45 seconds after we called. Nice. 
I would like another vacation now. 
We got to Martha's and she'd set up a little table just for us b/c our cab driver, Super Dave, had told her we were coming! We were the only ones there and it was a little house they'd also made into a restaurant. The owner and her daughter came out and talked with us, etc.. Such great people!
Our view. :) They made us so much food to be the only customers there that night! I mean.. it's low season, so that's understandable, but they made us feel like they had tons of food back there and couldn't be happier for us to try it all. So wonderful. 
Eric had a convo with this guy while taking the picture... :)
Sooo.. I love names in the sand pics.. and we totally forgot til nighttime! We decided to grab a couple beers and go for a walk on the beach. Sat in some chairs and chatted, looking up at the blanket of stars stretching piton to piton... gorgeous. 
Okay, so we may have headed back to the room and chilled out in our hotel robes. Eric was like "you're not really going to post that anywhere anyway" after we took the below photo. I said "Um.. have we met?" I can't even explain how this happened, but there was laughter before and after it and that's all that matters.. and I love it... hahaha.. 
Eric was over photo-ing and ready for bed.... Soo I gave in. Last photo of day 6. What a fabulous last full day on the island. Couldn't have asked for more. :)
Next round, our last half day.. So sad. I feel like we're leaving all over again.. haha...